Hawaii Plans to Introduce Public Restaurant Grading System

Eateries in Hawaii may soon begin displaying their recent restaurant inspection grades, thanks to an initiative by the state’s health department, local news outlet Hawaii News Now reports.  Assuming that the plan receives approval from the governor following a public comment period in December, the new system would go into effect around March of next year.  Under the new system, restaurants would be asked to display a green, yellow, or red notice at their establishments.  The green notice, considered a “pass,” indicates that the eatery committed few or no violations at the time of the last inspection. Yellow, or a “conditional pass,” would be given to establishments with two or more violations, which will require them to be inspected again the next business day to earn a passing grade. Restaurants that cannot meet those standards would be given a red notice and closed until they can resolve whatever concerns that inspectors cite.  The grading system follows the same rules that have been in place for the state’s restaurant inspections – only now the results would be put on display for the public to see.  The state also plans to roll out an online restaurant inspection database in the next year so that anyone can look up reports of past inspections at any given establishment.  Hawaii will also be bolstering its roster of restaurant inspectors to 31 by 2015 and increasing its rate of restaurant inspections to three times a year – up from the status quo of once every two-and-a-half years. The health department plans to have 25 inspectors on staff by the end of this year.  The new inspectors and grading system would be funded by increasing annual restaurant permit fees from $46 to $200.